DISQUS

Jamie, great article here. As an affiliate manager for nearly 4 years, I understand the value of affiliate partners that add value when they promote authorized coupons. This gives further credibility to your statement, "Programs are becoming more restrictive in who the let in as they are looking for more “partners” and less opportunists. Often times merchants are willing to provide exclusive offers to trusted partners.

I know that in the 20+ programs I've managed, merchants get very frustrated when they've taken the time to create exclusive coupons, only to have them "scraped" and re-posted by another affiliate. This is very discouraging to merchants and AM's alike as it reduces their overall willingness to create these codes in the future.

The best way around this scenario is to offer exclusive offers to trusted partners that have been around for awhile and understand how to do things the right way. This also allows merchants the opportunity to test offers through the affiliate channel and they are able to rely on clean data.

A big issue I've seen are sites that allow users to post offers, without providing any moderation. An example of this would be www.retailmenot.com, I don't know how many times merchants have been frustrated by their lack of willingness to moderate their site to be sure that unauthorized or occasionally, fake coupons are posted. Some sites such as www.dealtaker.com allow users to post offers in their forums, while moderating the coupons posted by their users.

Thanks for shedding light on this issue.

I am sorry for your loss Sam. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.